Having an air compressor is great. Having an intolerably loud one isn’t.
At first glance, it might seem like a daunting task to make your loud air compressor run efficiently, but you’ll soon find out that it can take you less than 10 minutes to significantly reduce the compressor’s noise levels.
Below, we discuss some of the ways to keep your air compressor quiet, alongside some tools and equipment that you can connect to further reduce the amount of sound coming from it.
If you’re fed up from constantly disturbing your neighbors or are on the verge of rupturing your eardrum, don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place!
1. Installing a Muffler
This is considered an excellent and inexpensive tool to quiet your air compressor. Mufflers are made to be put right on the intake of the compressor.
Once you place it correctly, you should immediately notice marginally lower noise levels.
The best thing about mufflers is that they’re considered the fastest and easiest way to maintain your loud air compressor. You don’t need to go out and buy a specific type of muffler as an old car’s muffler should work just as well.
2. Wrapping up the Compressor
There are different ways to wrap a compressor. This usually works best when you’ve just bought the compressor and realize that it’s louder than you can handle.
How this works is that you get a carpet, which doesn’t cost a lot, and wrap it around the air compressor’s motor.
You can also opt-in for a sound deadening mat, which will set you back a few extra dollars but should work much better at absorbing the vibrations. This is also considered something that relevantly low cost and very easy to implement.
3. Tightening the Loose Parts
This won’t always affect the sound, but a loose part inside the machine can indeed be the culprit. Bolts and screws can produce a substantial amount of noise due to the additional vibrations.
As you use your air compressor, you’ll need to conduct routine checks on your machine and tighten anything that feels loose inside. The best thing about it? It won’t cost you a dollar.
4. Moving its Location According to Terrain Type
A crucial factor in how loud your air compressor is where and how far it’s placed from you. If you can’t move your compressor any further, you can try and experiment with which terrain it’s on.
Different terrains produce different vibration noises. Make sure you understand what material your compressor is sitting on.
It’s okay to change its place frequently at first to determine which is the quietest place.
5. Making the Intake Longer and Moving the Compressor
One of the easier methods for a quieter afternoon is to extend the length of the intake that you find attached to the compressor.
When you do this, you’ll have to take the intake and run it around your house or wherever the route to your air compressor’s location is.
Now, when you move the air compressor to the new location, it wouldn’t matter how loud it is, because when you reconnect the intake back to the compressor, you’ll have the air compressor far away from you and it’s less likely to disturb anyone.
This is described as one of the more economical ways to lower your air compressor’s noise levels and can be really good for you if you’re on a budget.
6. Installing Rubber Grommets on the Mount
You probably already know that the floor is responsible for how much extra noise is output from the air compressor. This is why it can make a huge difference to invest in a rubber grommet that you can install on the compressor’s mount.
Rubber is considered one of the most sound insulating materials. It can almost completely absorb any impact vibrations and can do wonders in neutralizing any extra noise.
What’s good about grommets is that you can find them everywhere in all different sizes, so you’ll almost definitely find one that fits your model.
7. Cleaning the Air Filters
The filters are there to filter the air. Its purpose is simple: clean the air that goes inside the compressor.
They do pose a problem, however, especially with heavy use, and you’ll find that the filters start to accumulate dust, reducing the efficiency of the machine.
When air filters are dirty, they cause the air compressor to run harder, increasing the noise coming out of it. The best way to fix that is to clean your air filters every 6 months.
8. Lubricating the Bearings
Moving parts in any machine can be detrimental to how smoothly the air compressor operates. Every moving part needs to be frequently lubricated in order to work correctly. If you go on without lubricating for a while, it’ll probably cause significantly louder noise or, worse, a power outage.
Every now and then you need to properly lubricate the bearings. You can do that by putting grease directly on the moving part or the surface that it touches.
Make sure you don’t overdo it because putting too much grease on the bearings chokes it and makes it much harder to move.
In Conclusion
Air compressors can be a nuisance, in the beginning, most notably because of how loud they can become. With these simple tips and tricks, you should be able to quieten your air compressor very easily.
If you’re looking to obtain no noise from the machine, then you might be left a little disappointed. This guide is very handy if you want to bring down your compressor’s noise a few decibels, which should have a very positive effect overall.
Just don’t expect complete silence unless you are ready to invest in a soundproof box that you can put the air compressor inside.
One last thing, it makes a huge difference to start out this guide with an air compressor that is generally not too loud. Before you make a purchase, make sure you know everything about the product you’re buying; most importantly, its decibel range.